The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Summer service and Late Night Taxi the big questions
By Kendra Walker
During the August 20 Mt. Crested Butte town council work session, Mountain Express managing director Jeremy Herzog presented a FirstTracks summer update and possible scenarios for the 2025 operation season. As previously reported in the Crested Butte News, Mountain Express is looking at three potential scenarios for the FirstTracks on-demand service, including how to incorporate it with the Late Night Taxi.
The FirstTracks pilot program performed successfully last winter season but has not performed as well this summer, Herzog told the Mt. Crested Butte council. Historically, he explained, the summer condo bus route numbers have been low since it started in 2018. “Continual investments have been made into this route but it’s never performed well, as compared to other Mountain Express routes,” he said.
Summer service runs through September 29, and Herzog said a summer survey went live last week and he plans to share data with the Mountain Express board in September. “But based on how inefficient summer service was, there was no appetite from the board to maintain it for the entire summer,” he told the council, regarding future operations.
2025 options
Herzog explained the three potential scenarios for 2025 to the council.
With scenario one, FirstTracks would operate in the winter only. This limits FirstTracks to the season in which it was effective, as compared to other Mountain Express routes, said Herzog. This scenario would cost approximately $460,000 to run. It would not tie in the Late Night Taxi, so any continued Late Night Taxi services would add additional costs to the budget.
For scenario two, FirstTracks would operate during the winter season only and its service provider Downtowner would also take over the Late Night Taxi service. This maintains a productive winter service but discontinues an ineffective summer service, and maintains the Late Night Taxi for public safety, said Herzog. While the north Mt. Crested Butte aspect of FirstTracks would continue to run as a free service, the Late Night Taxi service would include a passenger fare that is paid by credit card through Downtowner’s digital app. Late Night Taxi fares are currently $10 per passenger but Herzog said they are considering variable fares based on the passenger’s destination. “The proposal was to move the fare to Mt. Crested Butte to $15, and up to $25 in unincorporated Gunnison County to help cover more of the cost of the program.”
The estimated cost for scenario two is $680,000, with FirstTracks costing $460,000 and Late Night Taxi costing $220,000. Herzog said the Late Night Taxi cost estimate is based on running the service 365 days a year, but the board is also considering running it 300 days a year to cost-optimize during the off-season periods. Herzog said the current Late Night Taxi contract is roughly $236,000 a year.
Scenario three is the most robust service, with FirstTracks operating during the winter and a limited summer period. Downtowner would also take over the Late Night Taxi to operate 300 or 365 days a year. “This scenario offers some version of a summer service to the get most bang for our buck. We would find some way to cost-optimize to have some level of service,” said Herzog, noting that the summer service could run only during peak summer weeks. However, this option would have the highest budgetary impact at $874,000, with the FirstTracks portion costing approximately $654,000 and the Late Night Taxi approximately $220,000.
Several council members voiced their preference for scenario three. “I would hate to see the summer condo portion gone altogether,” said councilmember Janet Farmer. “Running it for five to six weeks in the summer makes sense.”
“I’m kind of thinking of scenario three too, but I would need to see more of the Late Night Taxi details,” said mayor Nicholas Kempin. He asked Herzog if the Mountain Express board showed preference for any of the three options, but Herzog said the board has not gotten into that discussion yet as they wanted feedback from both Mt. CB and Crested Butte councils. Herzog plans to request funding for the Late Night Taxi from both councils in September as well.
“This is just two aspects of Mountain Express’s responsibilities,” said councilmember Dwayne Lehnertz, who sits on the Mountain Express board. “It doesn’t include any other Mountain Express services and these are big numbers relative to the budget. We don’t know if we have the budget to continue or improve these services and there are other Mountain Express responsibilities that may impact this.”
The Mountain Express board plans to review a first draft of the 2025 budget at their September 26 meeting and determine the level of vendor services needed, with final approval in November.
